Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-04-08

Through the bare wall ofrock, like dew
from heaven I held forth my parched
tongue and caught the drops as they
fell; and as drank my strength was
renewed, and hope and the desire for
life grew warm within me again. And
yet on this the second night OF nay i'm
prisonment cared not sopassionate-
ly--l looked not 50 eagerly for succor.
My limbs were numbed, my brain
deadened; life was ebbing toward
death; a shadow at times fell over my
eyes. and if l held still to the hilt Of
| my sword, if my feet sought still the
ledge that rested them, they did it
mechanically from habit and not from
hope. ,s1
Think sometimes I was not in my
| right mind. I was am ong green fields
and woods; l was gathering flowers;
| was climbing noun tains; and from
these visions I invariably awoke to
Observation-Disclosures above, around
dark ness below, hiding the abyss that
hungered greedily for my life. And no
friendly face, novoice, no football near.
Not even a step, through all these
slow, slow hours. If passing peasant
through the day had heard the lonely
cry rising from the depths. he had set
it down to ghost or, pixy, and had
passed on his frightened way regard
Hess. - =,
I And now that night was wearing ON,
and no rescue. | could not live until
morning. knew that. My mind
wandered again. My mother waited
for me; must hurry home; but / was
bound by q chain, in outer darkness,
and was going to die. There was no
Christian in all the land to succor me
Il was forgotten and forsaken, left in
the 3pit--and / would unclasp my
hands AMI fell and die. No. I would
call again once more. "Iielp! help!
| Mercy! help!"
| AS my fainting voice died in the dark
depths and quivered up to the glim-
Inering sky, felt hope die with it, and
gave UP all thought of life. I turned
my eyes toward my grave below, and
,nurmured with psrched lips:
'Out Of the depths have Icried unto
thee, 0 Lordp'
The little rill chat had saved my life
hitherto still trickled on, and it's sill
very murmur, as it dropped on the
rocks below was the sole sound that
broke the deathly silence around me.
| My prayer was over, and I had not
relinquished my hold. was stronger
than I had deemed myself. I would
cry out again. "Help! help! help!"
Istopped. Il,stened. Asound was
floating on the wind. Coming, coming,
joining the drip, drip, drip OF the rill-
then dying, then returning. Listening
with my whole being, / recognized the
sound. Bells-chuch bells--chimes
Ginning in the New Year. 20, God,
have mercy on me! have mercy on mel"
Bells ringing in the new year-bells
Ginning in tho ears of friends, telling of
sadness and hope-bells clashing in at
merry intervals between music and
laughter, loving greetings, kisses and
Joy.
Will no one in my fathers house
take pity on me? Am l missed no.
where? The bells chime a feasting
and gladness, and I am here hanging
between life and death. The jaws Of
the grave are beneath me, my joints
! are broken and the bells chime on.
Would it not be Il good deed on this
New Years day TO save me? Oh, feast.
ers and jewellers, hear me!
Help! help! 1t is Christmas time.
Help, for Christ's sake, good people!"
The bells float nearer and drown the
drip Of the trickllne water, and cry
Help! help!' saying, "Now will I call
till I de- A film grows over my eyes,
but my voice is strong and desperate,
as Ishout, "Christmastide!Fo Tor Christ's
sake, help, good Christians!''
a great light---a flash OF fire! For a.
moment deem it death; gazing up
ward see, amid glare OF torches,
faces--O they were angels to me-eag-
er faces peering downward. And close
to me swings torch, let down into
the depths; it's light falls on my hae-
gard face-a great shout rends the
night sky.
HE is here! he is safe!-he lives!''
/ cannot speak, though my lips
move, and my heart stands still as I
see one, two, three daring men swing
themselves over the abyss-miners,
used to danger-and in a, moment
stout arms are around me and 1 am
borne upward, carried gently like a
child, placed an instant on my feet,
and then laid tenderly down on the
earth. l am so weary, and faint, and
worn, that lie with closed eyes, new
er striving to say a word of thanks.
$50 not so near the brink, madam,
entreat!" / hear q voice cry sharp
ly. Then I open my aching lids, and
between me and the shaft kneels a
white figure; between me and the sky
there bends a. white face, and tears
fall down upon my brow fast and
warm. 1t was my betrothed, Florian.
But even when she stole her little
hand i'll mine mine so cramped and
numbed that it gave no response to her
tenderness-and even when she stoop-
ed and pressed her lips to my cheek,
| could not breathe word to thank
her.
Yet Florian, dear wife, let me tell thee
| now that from the depths ofmy happy
heart there rose hymn of JOY, and I
understood from that moment that
thou vert mine, and l owe my life to
thy love. g..
/ Then thy sweet lips breathed words
that fell upon my soul like manna--
| words of tenderness and pity that
made the torture of those slow hours
| in the pit fade away, 50 mighty did
this reward seem for my sufferings.
! Twas carried to Trevesky, and as
the men bore me along. you walking
by my side, l heard them tell the tale
OF my servants fright when my horse
returned home alone, and how they
came to your father for tidings OF me.
Then they whispered OF the painful
search through the day and night, the
tracking of my horses hoofs upon the
snow, and the story of the scared
peasant; who all night long had heard
the cry Of tortured ghosts issuing